Coupon Savings

One of my goals this year is to save more money by using coupons/sales/etc.  I've been using coupons for awhile, but I want to try to be more on top of sales, special coupon events, etc. so that I can really save the most money I can.  This week is Super Doubles at Harris Teeter - which means they double manufacturer's coupons up to $1.99.  So, I got $58 worth of groceries for $24 - saving $34!  I was VERY happy with that purchase, so I took a picture of all that I was able to get for my $24:

Reader's Club

One of my favorite things about my job is being on the Reader's Club team.  This team runs the Reader's Club website, which is a reader's advisory website that is part of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system.  We review books and post the reviews on our site, plus try to get author interviews and other online resources about books.  I've been on this team for going on 6 years now and it's one of the best parts of my job.  Each month the team members rotate various duties, so I get to work on a different aspect of the team and the website each month.  Plus, I've had some great co-workers on this team since I've been a member!  At our most recent meeting I thought it would be nice to have a picture of our current team.  We were only missing Paul, our web services person who makes sure all our content gets into the website.  Here's the Reader's Club Team as of Feb. 2011:

Left to right - Jessica, Sally, Kim, Christine, Cassandra, Angela, and Megan.

Dad's New House

My Dad recently bought a new condo closer to his work.  So, Chad and I came to visit and help him change out some of the old light fixtures and just help him get set up in his new place.  Here are some pictures from our visit:

Here are some before and after pictures of the lights we changed out:

Here are some pictures Chad and I took at Wrightsville Beach while we were visiting Dad:

February Cat Pics

Here are some pictures of Sandy & Roxy from February 2011.

Roxy & Sandy cuddling.

Roxy.

Sandy doing the over-the-shoulder look.

Jimmy Eat World concert

For my Valentine's Day gift this year I wanted to go see the band Jimmy Eat World again.  They were coming to Amos Southend on Feb. 5, 2011.  They are one of my favorite bands, so I was very excited to get to see them again!  They definitely put on a good show, but unfortunately it seemed like most of the people around us were more interested in trying to talk to each other or text on their phones than listening to the band.  I don't understand why people would pay $25 per ticket to scream at each other during a concert!  I still enjoyed the show and Jimmy Eat World was GREAT as always.  Here are some pictures from the show:

Our Church is AWESOME!

Chad & I have been attending Mecklenburg Community Church for over 8 years now and we love it!  It is the best church I have EVER attended.  Meck is starting a new phase - in 2009 we started a building campaign to fund an expansion to our campus.  We are also going to launch new locations around the community as well - this past weekend our Mountain Island Lake and Lake Norman campuses launched.  In the near future we are also planning to launch campuses in Mint Hill and Kannapolis.  This way our church can impact even more of the surrounding community.  At the February 1st Wednesday service our pastor Jim White gave us some statistics that I thought were worth sharing, so here are some stats about Meck.

• In general 80% of churches are either plateaued or declining in membership and the average church loses 10% of their members/attenders every year.
• Between 2008-2010 Meck GREW 23.54% and of that growth 69% were people who were unchurched before coming to Meck.
• Meck has approx. 18,000 names in our database and over 5,000 active attenders - active attender is definied as somehow being on the radar through tithing, attending a class, being in a small group, serving in a ministry, etc.
• In 2008 Meck baptized 127 people, in 2009 150 baptisms, and in 2010 330 baptisms!
• Each year Meck does a special offering at Christmastime called Giving to Christ at Christmas - this is above and beyond normal tithing and the money goes to special ministries that our church supports.  In 2010 we were able to purchase land in the Philipines to build a home for rescued brothel workers - that is one example of the type of ministries Giving to Christ at Christmas funds.  In 2008 $178,888 was given for Giving to Christ at Christmas.  In 2009 we started Unhindered - our building fund, so we didn't have a Giving to Christ at Christmas collection.  In 2010 Giving to Christ at Christmas brought in $239,041. And this is all during a terrible economy as well!
• Most church building funding campaigns have about a 60-70% fulfillment rate, but Meck's Unhindered campaign has had a 94-95% fulfillment rate so far!

I absolutely LOVE being a part of a church that is doing so much in our local community and throughout the world.  I know that any money I give to Meck will go to ministries that are really making a difference.  It is such an awesome feeling to belong to a church that I feel like is really on the right track and has the right focus.  I can't wait to see what our stats will be for 2011!